Episodes

  • The beacon that rode the melt tunnels and betrayed her location

    The beacon that rode the melt tunnels and betrayed her location
    Oct 20 2026
    A county surveyor hears an avalanche beacon blinking in a bare creek bed - how did a missing skier’s beacon ride melt tunnels and betray her location?

    The beacon that rode the melt tunnels and betrayed her location

    In this episode, we follow the timeline of Lori Carter’s disappearance and the search that found her beacon transmitting in dry ground far below the snowpack. We trace the decisions, terrain, and seasonal melt processes that shaped the search and ask what evidence the teams missed while the mountain was changing. What transport route could carry a beacon over a mile through thawing snow?

    Person: Lori Carter
    Date: April 29 (disappearance) and May 9 (beacon found)
    Location: Harlan Peak area; beacon found at 5,100 ft, primary debris at 6,400 ft
    Status: Beacon transmitting for nine days
    Person: Clifford Stevens

    - Lori Carter, 24, avalanche-certified seasonal lodge worker, skied familiar chutes and left a topographic map at the diner folded to the north chute.
    - On April 29, Pete Dunbar and Lori split at a ridgeline; he heard a single low shelf-crack two hundred yards south of him and later reported she never reached camp.
    - Harlan County SAR led by Tammy McCarthy began grid searches with certified receivers and avalanche dogs on May 1 across the primary debris field at 6,400 ft and found no signal.
    - On May 9, surveyor Clifford Stevens re-flagging a timber boundary at 5,100 ft registered a faint beacon signal and found an avalanche beacon wedged in a granite boulder in a dry creek bed.
    - The mountain experienced melt-season wet-slab releases and subsurface water corridors that can transport objects beneath receding snow, creating movement the search teams did not initially account for.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    25 mins
  • She Came Home-Then Wrote Tomorrow's Days From Her Armchair

    She Came Home-Then Wrote Tomorrow's Days From Her Armchair
    Oct 19 2026
    A missing librarian returns to Dellwood, sits in an armchair and writes trail-journal entries - how did that expose them?

    She Came Home-Then Wrote Tomorrow's Days From Her Armchair

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Kathleen Whitaker’s solo Harlan Creek hike to the baffling journal entries found on her porch. The episode traces search decisions, odd scentwork by a dog, and the actions that shaped the hunt - what do those choices reveal?

    Person: Kathleen Whitaker
    Date: April 7-19, 2019
    Location: Dellwood, Colorado; Harlan Creek loop; Sutter Basin trailhead
    Event: Trail journal entries written from inside the house while search teams combed the wilderness
    Person: Paul Whitaker

    - Kathleen’s GPS recorded her at Sutter Basin trailhead at 2:09 PM on April 7 and her signature-shaky-appeared in the register at 2:14 PM.
    - Her car keys were found inside the metal trail register box while her car arrived at the Whitaker driveway at 3:44 PM the same day.
    - A neighbor’s doorbell camera captured Kathleen carrying her pack onto the back porch; she removed boots and sat in an armchair without contacting anyone.
    - Search-and-rescue deployed immediately on April 9 with helicopters, ground teams, dogs, and a $43,000 operation focused into the backcountry.
    - The scent dog Brix locked on at the parking lot edge and refused to track into the wilderness, a detail logged by SAR leader Tracy Bell and noted in decisions that shaped the search.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 mins
  • The ice axe stood upright and led rescuers to the tent

    The ice axe stood upright and led rescuers to the tent
    Oct 18 2026
    A wildlife photographer finds an orange tent and a lone ice axe on a snowbound bench at 7,400 ft - how did that expose them?

    The ice axe stood upright and led rescuers to the tent

    In this episode, we follow the discovery that redirected a winter mountain search: an orange tent on Harrow Plateau, fresh snow all around, and a lone ice axe planted in the vestibule. What the tent, the axe, and the missing tracks reveal about Brenda Boyd's disappearance drives the questions rescuers must answer.

    Date: March 4-9
    Person: Brenda Boyd, 32
    Location: Harrow Plateau, eastern bench, 7,400 feet
    Responder: Pamela Tate, Siskine County Search and Rescue, certified avalanche responder
    Observer: Marilyn Farrell, aviation charter photographer

    - Brenda signed the Decker Creek trailhead register at 6:47 AM on March 4, intending a day trip and arranging a neighbor to give her diabetic cat its 6:30 PM injection if she wasn't back.
    - Search dogs lost Brenda's scent at the saddle at 4,200 feet, where handlers ran the line three times and found only a faint alert on the eastern branch.
    - A storm on the night of March 7-8 dumped about 22 inches of snow across Harrow Plateau, potentially erasing any preexisting tracks or surface clues.
    - On March 9, photographer Marilyn Farrell spotted and photographed an orange tent with its fly taut and an ice axe planted upright in the vestibule, surrounded by forty meters of undisturbed snow.
    - Pamela Tate, seeing the photo, redirected her team toward the eastern bench after concluding the tent's condition conflicted with being buried before the storm.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 mins
  • The Field Notebook That Stopped Writing and Left Her Frozen

    The Field Notebook That Stopped Writing and Left Her Frozen
    Oct 17 2026
    A volunteer tracker finds a circle of flipped stones and a barely alive geology professor at its center - how did the talus field expose her?

    The Field Notebook That Stopped Writing and Left Her Frozen

    In this episode, we follow the disappearance of Laura Myers and the search that led to a frozen talus field arranged with unnerving regularity. We lay out the timeline, the field methods she used, and the unanswered puzzle that begins with a call that never came.

    Person: Laura Myers
    Person: Tom Yee
    Person: Prita Okafor
    Date: February 11-13, 2019
    Location: Hatchback Talus Field, elevation 7,800 feet

    - At 3:02 p.m. on Feb 11 Laura’s waterproof field notebook records a protocol for systematically flipping talus to photograph pale fractured faces; the entry stops mid-clause.
    - At about 4:30 p.m. Laura tells her graduate assistant Prita to descend while she stays at the rock formation they’d come to study.
    - On Feb 12 a routine Tuesday 11:15 p.m. phone call between Laura and her husband Tom never happens; Tom waits and later calls Prita.
    - Volunteer tracker Walt Briggs, at 2:17 p.m. on Feb 13, encounters a 40-foot circle of roughly 200 stones all flipped fracture-face up and spots Laura near the center.
    - Laura’s core temperature was 86°F when reached after ~40 hours missing; she has no memory of the prior 18 hours and cannot account for moving stones weighing 8-90 pounds.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    26 mins
  • The Fishing Rod That Walked Six Miles and Broke Her Trail

    The Fishing Rod That Walked Six Miles and Broke Her Trail
    Oct 16 2026
    A fishing rod stands upright in a Montana snowbank six miles from the creek; a vanished angler and a blank trail ask how it got there.

    The Fishing Rod That Walked Six Miles and Broke Her Trail

    In this episode, we lay out the recorded sequence of a disappearance and the baffling physical traces left behind. The story follows the people, the landscape, and the search that tried to connect a missing woman to a rod found six miles away - but why does the trail stop?

    Person: Laura Sawyer
    Date: January 11-12, 2019
    Location: Sawback Narrows, Harlan County, Montana
    Person: Dennis Houck
    Person: Marcia Reynolds

    - Laura Sawyer, a 44-year-old dental hygienist and experienced angler, planned to fish Sawback Narrows on January 11 after a Thursday night bowling league.
    - She and fishing partner Dennis Houck parked at 9:30 a.m. and hiked 1.4 miles to the creek, where they split to opposite banks; Houck later found her bank empty around 11:15 a.m.
    - Laura’s boot prints led to the water’s edge and stopped twelve feet short with no return prints, no slide, and no disturbance in the snow or canyon acoustics.
    - Search dogs tracked from the trailhead to the end of those prints and then stopped; search teams initially oriented west into the drainage based on terrain and experience.
    - At 5:40 a.m. on January 12, snowplow operator Marcia Reynolds found an upright fishing rod with reel and line spooled in a highway snowbank six point two miles from the trailhead.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 mins
  • The child's handprints pressed into the mud that stopped the search

    The child's handprints pressed into the mud that stopped the search
    Oct 15 2026
    A lineman finds a child’s handprints at the waterline one morning, pointing into the creek - how did that discovery expose them?

    The child's handprints pressed into the mud that stopped the search

    In this episode, we follow the timeline of a winter search in Fenwick National Forest after a woman disappears from a creek drainage, and a puzzling new clue appears that no one expected. How did a set of fresh, small handprints one mile downstream alter the searchers’ actions and the official file?

    Person: Beverly York
    Date: December 10-12
    Location: Sutter Creek drainage, Fenwick National Forest
    Person: Amy Stevens
    Person: Tom Brierly

    - Beverly was last seen at 2:40 p.m. on December 10, placed on the west bank of Sutter Creek by Marcus Ogle.
    - Search and rescue tracked Beverly’s scent to the water’s edge; the scent trail stopped at the bank with no continuation.
    - At 8:15 a.m. on December 12, lineman Wade Tucker discovered two fresh child-sized handprints pressed into the mud facing the current.
    - The handprints were 1.1 miles downstream from where Beverly’s scent ended; no child had been reported missing in the area.
    - Brierly’s dogs later found a scent 200 yards downstream and, 300 yards upstream from that point, a laced left boot lodged under a submerged root on the east bank.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 mins
  • A trail camera filmed her walking - and boots waited

    A trail camera filmed her walking - and boots waited
    Oct 14 2026
    A trail camera caught her leaving the creek - twelve days later she was found barefoot and boots nearby. How did that expose them?

    A trail camera filmed her walking - and boots waited

    In this episode, we follow the circumstances around a routine day hike that became a baffling disappearance and partial return. We lay out the movements on the trail, the search timeline, and the odd physical evidence that refuses easy explanation: what happened between the creek crossing and the boots on the rock?

    Person: Valerie Weber
    Date: November 5-17, 2019
    Location: Coldwater Ridge Wilderness, Harwick County, eastern Oregon
    Event: Day hike, missing person search, trail camera footage
    Status: Found alive on November 17 after search was called off

    - Valerie Weber left for a planned 4.6-mile Sentinel Notch day hike at dawn; her truck was found running with keys in the ignition roughly 12 hours later.
    - Dog teams traced scent indicating she crossed the creek at mile 3.1 then returned to the same bank and walked upstream instead of continuing toward Sentinel Notch.
    - Search and rescue ran an 18-square-mile grid with 34 personnel and four dog teams for eight days before calling the active search on November 13.
    - A trail camera at mile marker 11 recorded her moving days after the search had been called off - footage reviewed two days later by a Forest Service technician.
    - On November 17 at 6:23 AM a runner found Valerie sitting barefoot against a boulder, conscious, with boots placed side by side on a flat rock four inches of snow away and no tracks leading to or from them.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 mins
  • The Unlaced Boots That Ended the Search

    The Unlaced Boots That Ended the Search
    Oct 13 2026
    A volunteer EMT is found seated by a roadside vault with one boot unlaced - how did that expose them?

    The Unlaced Boots That Ended the Search

    In this episode, we follow the baffling case of Angela Barrett and the search teams who scoured Harmon National Forest after she disappeared from camp. The episode covers the timeline, the search methods, and the anomalies that haunted responders - how could she end up by a utility vault with no memory of the route?

    Person: Angela Barrett
    Date: October 9-15
    Location: Harmon National Forest, Sallow Creek drainage, Dellwood substation
    Person: Judith Barnes
    Person: Travis Kohler
    Person: Pete Munden

    - Judith Barnes found Angela seated upright against a concrete vault on October 15 at 8:20 a.m., rifle across her knees, one boot off.
    - Search and rescue had covered 340 acres, deployed dogs twice, and completed concentric grid rings from the last known camp without finding her.
    - Owen Bray and his dogs picked up partial boot prints that stopped at a seasonal creek; scent ended on the far bank on October 11.
    - An orange hunting vest matching Angela’s size was found hung neatly on a trail marker inside the search perimeter on day three, but the dogs registered no scent.
    - At the trailhead on October 10 Deputy Ken Farris noted Travis Kohler’s boots were fully unlaced when he returned from the hike.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 mins